Yet have the Needle and its beautiful and creations hitherto remained without their due meed of praise and record either in sober prose or sounding rhyme while their glittering antithesis the scathing and destroying sword has been the theme of admiring and exulting record without limit and without end!
The progress of real civilization is rapidly putting an end to this false prestige in favour of the “Destructive” weapon and as rapidly raising “Conservative” one in public estimation and the time seems at length arrived when that triumph of female ingenuity and industry “The Art of Needlework” may be treated as a fitting subject of historical and social record – fitting at least for a female hand.
Mrs Elizabeth Stone, The art of needle-work, from the earliest ages: including some notices of the ancient historical tapestries, London, H. Colburn, 1840
I have officially gone into thesis-mode, so expect lots on Victorian women.
I can’t believe we’ve never posted any Target Women before.
The silly thing won’t let me embed. And YouTube says I’m in the wrong country. So just links -
The Yoghurt Edition
As if we needed another reason to hope that the Queen makes it till 2012 (she’ll be there for the Olympics coming to London; she’ll have reigned for as long as Queen Victoria, the nation’s longest-reigning monarch to date; she’ll still have the crown, as opposed to her unpopular son), the BBC reported today that if she does, we’ll all get an extra day’s holiday!
And on a different note, to be filed under “Yet More Contradictory Advice For Women”, “The G-spot ‘doesn’t appear to exist’, say researchers“. This in contrast to last year’s article on the subject, which said “Female G-Spot ‘Can Be Detected’“. Perhaps they should all just have read this article from Scarleteen. I was going to try to emphasise parts of what I’ve quoted below, but stopped when I realised I was emphasising the whole bloody quote!
“often enough, the reason people to want to put so much focus on [the G-spot] seems to be about wanting to deny the importance of the clitoris and make it seem like vaginal intercourse should be enough for both partners to feel satisfied with and reach orgasm through, even though we know, from decades of study — and goodness known how many folks driving themselves up a tree to desperately try and make that happen — that isn’t true. …
Here’s the funny part, though: based on everything we know to date, it’s clear that the G-spot is PART of the internal clitoris, making argument about them as two separate parts moot. The G-spot and urethral sponge have been linked, it’s just that research is still sparse to determine if they are the same, different, related or unrelated (as research of female-bodied sexually in regard to pleasure is still sparse, period). Feminist healthcare and female-centered sexologists do most frequently recognize the urethral sponge as what is typically called the G-spot, and do most frequently recognize it as yet one more part of the clitoris as a whole.”
On a subject close to my heart right now, even if I’m a bit behind schedule – “The holidays are here, and so are uncomfortably racist conversations with family!“
The entire article is worth a read, but especially this:
“Remember, you have no duty to stand by and be offended because of some obligation to your [significant other]. A good partner would want you to be comfortable and be able to be yourself.”
I’d add that the important thing is to know that you don’t have to keep quiet, even if that’s what you decide to do. Because knowing that you don’t have to and doing so anyway makes it a positive action on your part, and not something that you let happen to you. And therein lies all the difference in the world.
in the Houses of Parliament. Nice to see they have their priorities in order.
